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How often does a ship miss Grand Cayman?

cruiseapril

By cruiseapril,
in Cayman Islands

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  • 3 weeks later...
Freckles_51

Freckles_51

Posted
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We were at GC last week and had a ship excursion (NCL) booked to stingray city sandbar. Before leaving the ship it was announced that the sea was rough around the sandbar and that although the excursion would still run, we could cancel on the spot and get a refund, but would not get a refund if we change our mind after leaving the ship. We decided to go anyway as it was really too late to plan anything else. The sea was not rough for the tender to port, but it was very rough at the sandbar. Some of the waves were crashing over everyone. For me, it was a bit scary but my daughter and grandson felt OK and were last to get back on the boat to leave the sandbar. They tell you to walk slowly on the sea bed, not jump or swim, but that was impossible with the height of the waves.

 

For the record, this is the 2nd time I have been to GC and made it to shore both times (May and December)

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BunnyLove123

BunnyLove123

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Last time we were in GC, it was late July, early August. Went to Sting Ray City, and the waves (I thought) were pretty rough. I'm 5'2 and some of them would have been over my head had I not clung to dear hubby:rolleyes:.. regardless, we had a great time. A once in a lifetime experience, I think! Hoping to be back on the Epic in February... and crossing our fingers that we have beeeautiful weather!!!:D:cool:

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HollandAvery

HollandAvery

Posted
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We will be in Grand Cayman in early December of this year (I believe we go on December 2) and we booked the Stingray Sandbar excursion.

 

What are the chances that we'd miss out on GC because of wind/bad weather/etc.? I know you can't predict the weather and just about anything could happen (I'm from Texas, so I get a lot of that crazy weather that is sunny one minute and then storming like crazy the next)...but I know patterns can help determine a likelihood of missing a port.

 

So very early December...how often is GC missed?

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Freckles_51

Freckles_51

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We will be in Grand Cayman in early December of this year (I believe we go on December 2) and we booked the Stingray Sandbar excursion.

 

What are the chances that we'd miss out on GC because of wind/bad weather/etc.? I know you can't predict the weather and just about anything could happen (I'm from Texas, so I get a lot of that crazy weather that is sunny one minute and then storming like crazy the next)...but I know patterns can help determine a likelihood of missing a port.

 

So very early December...how often is GC missed?

 

I don't know if there are any statistics, I can only tell you how it was when I was there the first week of December, and show you pics from the Sandbar, but please bear in mind this is only my experience and the captain of the boat that took us there did say that it is not like this very often, and if it is really bad they will not go out. Also it was not this rough on the tender from ship to dock so even if the Sandbar is rough you may still be able to get to GC.

 

I would also like to point out that I can swim but not a strong swimmer and do not like to go under water. This experience did not put me off wanting to go again but I would not go in the water if I saw it this rough in the future. I would certainly book a cruise to GC anytime and give this excursion another try.

 

So...here are a few pics where you can see a wave coming through, sorry I blanked out the faces but I am not in these pics, they are some of my family. The other person is the guide and I am sure his face is in many other pics posted elsewhere so I didn't bother blanking his face out. :p

 

For reference, the female behind is about 5'6" and the male in front is just a bit shorter. The wave broke right over them. There was one bigger than this a few minutes prior so I went back to the boat! ;)

Wave.jpg.d4a972cee8fefc92cea6f7c45bd3e735.jpg

Waves.jpg.195c5709b1d52aa882b387a1904f2bd0.jpg

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HollandAvery

HollandAvery

Posted
Posted
I don't know if there are any statistics, I can only tell you how it was when I was there the first week of December, and show you pics from the Sandbar, but please bear in mind this is only my experience and the captain of the boat that took us there did say that it is not like this very often, and if it is really bad they will not go out. Also it was not this rough on the tender from ship to dock so even if the Sandbar is rough you may still be able to get to GC.

 

I would also like to point out that I can swim but not a strong swimmer and do not like to go under water. This experience did not put me off wanting to go again but I would not go in the water if I saw it this rough in the future. I would certainly book a cruise to GC anytime and give this excursion another try.

 

So...here are a few pics where you can see a wave coming through, sorry I blanked out the faces but I am not in these pics, they are some of my family. The other person is the guide and I am sure his face is in many other pics posted elsewhere so I didn't bother blanking his face out. :p

 

For reference, the female behind is about 5'6" and the male in front is just a bit shorter. The wave broke right over them. There was one bigger than this a few minutes prior so I went back to the boat! ;)

 

Thank you SO much for the reply! Those really were some big waves! Geez! I hope the Captain meant it when he said it wasn't like that often...my SO is not a strong swimmer so I'd worry about him.

It's so strange that the waves are so big when the weather looks like it must be absolutely beautiful out!

 

I guess I'll keep my fingers crossed that it isn't too windy when we go.

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vmt514

vmt514

Posted
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So here's a related question. If you miss a port and have a tour booked, what happens? I'm pretty sure if the tour is with the cruise line you get your money back. But what if you booked directly with a tour company. Has anyone had trouble getting a refund for a missed port day?

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MonkeyBiz

MonkeyBiz

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Of the 3 times i was supposed to go, we only made it once. Bummer! The weather was bright and sunny, but high winds prevented is from going. the other time, the port had damage from a storm a few weeks before and wasn't repaired.

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loveJake

loveJake

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Missed it 1 time out of 4. We went to Cozumel and arrved late afternoon, spent the night and then left a couple of hours early the next day, really screwed things up if you had private excursions. This was on Disney.

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  • 2 weeks later...
sid_9169 "Live from...." Rare

sid_9169

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So here's a related question. If you miss a port and have a tour booked, what happens? I'm pretty sure if the tour is with the cruise line you get your money back. But what if you booked directly with a tour company. Has anyone had trouble getting a refund for a missed port day?

 

The only time I've ever been to Grand Cayman, we missed the port due to rough seas. A darn-near riot broke out at Guest Services. A crowd continued to gather, and became more vocal as the morning progressed. Eventually security was called to try to get the situation under control. I, however calmly explained my situation (private excursion) to the lady at GS. She allowed me to come behind the counter and use the ships phone and computer to contact my excursions. This really did not sit well with the throngs of angry passengers. Moral of the story: Be nice and they will do whatever they can to accommodate you...

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mrsfuzzmo

mrsfuzzmo

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So here's a related question. If you miss a port and have a tour booked, what happens? I'm pretty sure if the tour is with the cruise line you get your money back. But what if you booked directly with a tour company. Has anyone had trouble getting a refund for a missed port day?

 

If you book with the cruise line and your excursion is cancelled, they will refund your money. On privately booked excursions, that's something you have to ask/confirm prior to booking. We ONLY book with companies that will confirm refund of deposit, or will only take payment when you get there so we don't have to worry about it.

 

MOST shore excursion companies will automatically refund if the ship does not come into port (believe me, they will know). No need to contact. Those are the companies that we try to book with.

 

One cruise we had to tender into Spotts because of rough seas, and when we disembarked from the tender, our tour (Stingraysailing) was there to let us know it was too rough to go out and that we would need to find something else to do that day. It was nice of them to meet us at Spotts, and offered to help us book some other land excursion, but since it was downright chilly and very windy (although sunny), we ended up going to Hell and then just walking around town shopping and eating. Too cool and windy to even sit on the beach.

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audome78

audome78

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I think we have missed twice out of 6 tries. The first was epic. Unbeknownst to the captain, a couple was on board who were getting married on Cayman. We sailed past, and their entire wedding party and guests watched. We felt so sorry for them.

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